The automaker held a conference call with reporters to address growing concern that the plug-in electric Volt — a centerpiece of G.M.’s turnaround — could catch fire after a severe accident.
Two senior G.M. officials, North American chief Mark Reuss and Mary Barra, head of global product development, both stressed that no Volts have caught fire immediately after an accident.
“We don’t think that there is an immediate fire risk,” said Mrs. Barra. “This is a post-crash activity.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Association on Friday opened a formal defect investigation into the Volt after two vehicles caught fire as part of testing by regulators.
In June, a fire occurred at a storage facility in Wisconsin three weeks after the Volt was crash-tested. G.M. attributed the fire to a failure to deactivate the lithium-ion battery in the vehicle.
Then on Thursday, a Volt battery pack caught fire after being intentionally damaged a week earlier by federal regulators, the N.H.T.S.A. said. The agency also recorded a temporary temperature increase in another battery pack one day after it was damaged, and a third pack emitted smoke and sparks after a similar test.
G.M., which has sold 5,329 Volts to American consumers since late 2010, has since been deluged with media scrutiny of the safety of the vehicle, which runs on electric power and is equipped with small motor that can recharge the battery while driving.
Mr. Reuss said in the conference call that the Volt is a “safe vehicle,” but said the automaker would offer free loaners to any owner until the safety issue is resolved.
“We are contacting all Volt owners to assure them and reassure them that our cars are safe to drive,” Mr. Reuss said.
He declined to provide more details on how long the loan program would last. “Our customers’ peace of mind is the most important thing,” he said.
The N.H.T.S.A. has said its tests have not raised safety concerns about the batteries in other electric cars, such as the Nissan Leaf.
In addition, the agency has so far said there is no evidence of fire problems in real-world crashes involving the Volt.
“However, the agency is concerned that damage to the Volt’s batteries as part of the three tests that are explicitly designed to replicate real-world crash scenarios have resulted in fire,” the agency said.
G.M. has sent its own personnel to the site of any accident involving a Volt, Mrs. Barra said. None of the crashes have caused a fire in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
However, Mrs. Barra said that the bigger concern is what happens to the batteries in the days and weeks following an accident.
She said that the lithium-ion batteries should be “de-powered” by trained service personnel to reduce the chances of a fire while the vehicle is stored.
“When electrical energy is left in a battery, it’s similar to having gasoline in a tank of a car that has been damaged,” she said.
G.M. said it is working with federal regulators on further tests of the Volt and will step up efforts to train workers at its dealerships on post-crash safety protocol.
The company has no plans to discontinue selling the Volt, Mr. Reuss said. However, the automaker will not begin shipping Volts to international markets until it can fully alert its dealers to post-crash safety measures.
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